The present invention relates to apparatus for closing the toe ends of stockings, and more particularly to apparatus that automatically supports and transfers stocking toe ends to and through a toe end seaming operation.
Many attempts have been made to provide apparatus useful for stocking toe closing without satisfactory success. A typical example of such prior art apparatus is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,294, which discloses indexing turning tubes on which stockings are supported for manual spreading and positioning of stocking toe ends from the turning tubes onto a thin flat carrier that moves the spread toe end into a clamp that clamps both the spread toe end and the carrier and from which the carrier is withdrawn, leaving the spread toe end in the clamp with its extremity outside the clamp for feeding through an adjacent sewing machine upon rotation of the clamp. In other forms of prior art apparatus of this type the turning tubes or other supports for stockings are advanced directly into clamps, which clamp both the stocking and support and from which the support is withdrawn while the clamp retains the stocking in as accurate a position as possible for seaming. An example of the latter type of apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,069, which discloses spreading elements within the stocking support member and operable to expand and spread a supported stocking toe end for clamping.
In all of the prior apparatus that mechanically positions the stocking toe ends in clamps rather than this being done manually, the apparatus requires positioning of the carrier, spreading means or end of the stocking support within the clamp and it is necessary to withdraw the carrier, spreader or support end from the clamp while leaving the stocking toe end in place. This provides problems of mechanical construction and operation, difficulty in controlling and maintaining control of the position of the stocking toe end when the carrier, spreader or support end is removed from the clamp. Further, these types of prior apparatus require either manual spreading of the stocking toe ends or a complicated spreading mechanism incorporated in the stocking tube or support.
A different type of toe end closing apparatus which overcomes the objections to the just previously explained prior art apparatus is disclosed in Italian Pat. Nos. 9356-A/76 and 9498-A/76 and the corresponding U.S. patent application Ser. No. 769,654. The apparatus disclosed in these patents provides a relatively simple means of spreading the toe end and locating it suitably in the clamp, advantageously the spreading means is not clamped within the toe end and the possibility of poor positioning of the toe end and damage thereto is thereby eliminated, and once the operator has positioned the toe end suitably on the stocking support, the whole operation is automatic, resulting in significant labor savings. However, there are certain operational difficulties encountered with the apparatus disclosed in these patents and patent application, such as:
(a) a difficulty in continually achieving the proper relation of the "run guard" (which is a band of run-resistant knitting adjacent the toe end of a stocking) with the clamp, since the run guards may vary in distance from the toe end extremity with different styles of stockings. Previously, an attempt was made to position the toe end extremity at some different relation to the end of the stocking support for each stocking style so that the run guard would always be in the same relation to the stocking support and therefore to the spreading means which was always in constant lengthwise relation to the stocking support at the time of spreading and to the clamping means at the time of seaming. This is an unsatisfactory process, due to human error in estimating the position of the toe end extremity relative to the end of the stocking support and in remembering the position for each style. PA0 (b) a difficulty in moving the relatively large contracted spreading means into the relatively small open toe end on the stocking support in a direction diagonal to the stocking support, which means that the operator must be especially careful to position the toe end without scallops, folds, or irregularities overhanging the support end or protruding into the hollow support through the slots therein for accommodation of the expanding of the spreading means, lest the spreading means catches on some portion of the toe end and consequently fails to enter suitably therein. PA0 (c) loose ends of knitting yarn frequently occur at the toe ends, are blown away from the arcuate clamp toward the spreading means by the stream of air directed onto the extremities of the clamped toe ends to extend them and direct them into the seaming means, and are prone to become and remain looped over the extending ends of the spreading means after the toe end has been clamped and the spreading means has been contracted to release the toe end, thereby causing troublesome entanglements when the spreading means is returned to a position for insertion in a subsequent toe end supported on a stocking support. PA0 (d) the tips of the spreading means or fingers are relatively smooth to facilitate disengagement from the toe ends and any loose strands of knitting yarn as previously mentioned, and thereby have a less positive than desirable engagement with the toe end, especially since the spreading means must pull the stocking leg longitudinally from the stocking supports in the process of positioning the spread toe end in the clamp, and must hold the stocking widespread in its original relation to the spreading means until clamped, without slipping thereon. Clamping tends to pull the toe end down over and off one or both of the spreading tips with resulting occasional failures to properly close toe ends; therefore, subsequent to the invention disclosed in the aforementioned Italian patents, extending needles were added at the engaging tips of the spreading means to penetrate and positively engage the toe ends to ensure their retention on the spreading means until suitably clamped. However, these needles created a new problem in that when the spreading fingers were contracted to release the toe end, the release was not always complete, the fingers then being likely to disturb the relation of the toe end to the clamping means as the fingers were returned diagonally for insertion in another toe end though still engaged with the clamped toe end.
The toe end closing apparatus of the present invention overcomes these operational difficulties by providing a movement (adjustable in extent to accommodate run guard position changes, or other style changes) longitudinal of the stocking support for insertion of the contracted spreading means into the open toe end, longitudinal removal movement of the spreading means to better release the toe end after it has been clamped and the spreading means has been contracted for its release, and a suction plate adjacent the clamp for holding the released toe end extremity (and loose yarn thereof) extended away from the arcuate clamping means, directing and guiding it into the seaming means, and holding it down and out of the way of the spreading means to provide clearance for the return movement of the spreading means.
These novel improvements to the apparatus result in less skill, patience and effort being required of the operator, and the automatic operations of the apparatus are made more certain and foolproof, again with less requirement for the attention, skill and effort of the operator in overcoming apparatus misfunctions in order to maintain economical production.